Mapping Risk at Work
Recently US News reported on an endeavor that mapped worldwide deaths at work. While safety risk data is not consistently available, the researchers estimate that 2.8 million people died in 2017 from work-related deaths and diseases. The report notes that according to UN data, 69,000 died in state-related conflicts.
Other findings include the following:
- Complying to worker safety is challenging. Developing countries do not report statistics on concerns such as occupational safety or disaster-loss metrics. There is also very little data on public understanding of risk.
- There are around 340 million occupational accidents and 160 million victims of diseases related to work reported every year. Overall, the global economy is losing 4% of its gross domestic product due to such issues, which translates into about $3.2 trillion.
- In the European Union, work-related ill-health and injury cost the bloc about 3.3% of its annual GDP, more than $524 billion in 2015.
- In 2017, 4,674 worker fatalities in the United States happened in the private sector; 971 or 20.7% of these fatalities were in the construction sector. In addition, fatal falls were at their highest level in the 26-year history of the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries accounting for 17% of workers’ deaths.
The report acknowledges that many countries are signatories to conventions demanding worker safety, yet data collection is inconsistent. The report, according to US News, notes that the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction in the 2019 Global Assessment Report calls for a “democratization of risk information.” As with many agreements, policy without practical implementation postpone available human rights remedies.